Science Pub to mull marbled murrelet

In this 2014 file photo, two marbled murrelets swim off Lopez Island near Seattle.

Mar 8, 2018

The marbled murrelet, an elusive seabird, may hold clues to environmental trends in Oregon forests and coastal waters.

At the Corvallis Science Pub on March 12, Jim Rivers, assistant professor in the College of Forestry, will discuss an Oregon State University research project to learn more about the behavior of this endangered species. Science Pub begins at 6 p.m. in the Old World Deli, 341 Second St. in Corvallis and is free and open to the public. Starting in April, the audience at Science Pub will be limited, and attendees will need to register.

The marbled murrelet gets its food from the ocean but raises its young up to 50 miles inland in mature forests. Disturbance in either environment has the potential to impact the murrelet population.

“There aren’t many species like it,” said Rivers. “There’s no other bird that feeds in the ocean, flies so far inland to nest and then go back."